A known lid lock apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed in JP2010-106438A (hereinafter referred to as Reference 1), for example. The lid lock apparatus disclosed in Reference 1 holds a fuel lid (hereinafter referred to as a lid member) for opening and closing a lid box, provided at a vehicle body and accommodating a fuel filler, in a closed state. According to the aforementioned lid lock apparatus, a lock shaft (hereinafter referred to as a moving member) projects towards the lid member so that an end of the moving member engages with the lid member (i.e., the lid lock apparatus is in a locked state). On the other hand, at a time of refueling, a worm wheel is driven by an electric motor so that the moving member, which is in engagement with the worm wheel, moves away from the lid member to thereby disengage the moving member from the lid member (i.e., the lid lock apparatus is in an unlocked state).
According to the lid lock apparatus disclosed in Reference 1, in order to disengage the moving member from the lid member in emergency situations such as a malfunction or breakdown of the electric motor, a pulling member (pulling means) is provided so as to manually pull back the moving member. For example, an operation handle is attached to one end of a string-shaped member to thereby achieve the pulling member. In addition, the other end of the string-shaped member is inserted into a penetration bore formed at an end portion of the moving member so that the string-shaped member is connected to the moving member. The operation handle is attached to a trunk of the vehicle so as to be detached from the trunk in emergency situations and to be held and pulled, thereby pulling back the moving member via the pulling member.
According to the aforementioned lid lock apparatus, each time the worm wheel is driven to rotate by the electric motor, the end of the pulling member connected to the moving member moves in an axial direction of the moving member. Thus, in a case of mounting the pulling member to the vehicle, a mounting space for the constantly moving end of the pulling member should be considered and ensured. This is because a repeated contact of the pulling member relative to the other member at the vehicle (a vehicle body component) may lead to a damage of the pulling member and/or the vehicle body component. Thus, in order to avoid an interference with the other member, the mounting space for the pulling member increases, which may result in a decrease of mountability of the lid lock apparatus at the vehicle.
A need thus exists for a lid lock apparatus for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.